IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 31 May
31-05-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
'Rumble in Ranelagh' is a YouTube hit | Human-powered search engine goes live
The Irish Times says that Eircom has told staff it plans to follow 400 job cuts this year with another 500 in the next two years, as noted by ENN on Wednesday.
The Irish Examiner says that thousands of internet users have been flocking to RTE's website to watch Blue Tit chicks hatch and fly away. Over the course of 19 days, more than 350,000 people have accessed Derek Mooney's nature programme online to keep abreast of the tiny birds' progress via a specially installed webcam in the presenter's back garden.
The paper also says that videos of the so-called 'Rumble in Ranelagh' -- a spat between outgoing Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and Green Party TD John Gormley just days before the General Election -- has been enjoying enormous popularity on video-sharing website YouTube. One video, in which the two men accuse each other of "losing it", had been viewed nearly 5,000 times by Wednesday evening.
The Financial Times reports that a human-powered search engine has been launched. Mahalo -- Hawaiian for "thank you" -- was developed by entrepreneur Jason Calacanis and is backed by Sequoia Capital. Mahalo is employing 40 people in Los Angeles to collate relevant links on results pages for popular search queries. "Everyone gave up on humans because Google got so good," said Calacanis. "But now 80 to 90 percent of the information on the web is spam, and Google results are filled with search slime-buckets inserting themselves in the process." Mahalo staff have built 4,000 results pages to date and hope to have 25,000 by the end of next year.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple's iTunes Store has started selling songs without digital-rights management (DRM) technology -- the copy-protection software that limits where songs can be played. The unrestricted content means some songs will work on players other than the iPod. The DRM-free tracks cost USD1.29 each, USD0.30 more than the usual price of songs at iTunes.
The paper also reports that auction giant eBay has acquired StumbleUpon, a company that helps people discover and share content online, for about USD75 million. StumbleUpon's 2.3 million users deliver around 5 million new recommendations a day about websites, videos, photos and other content, according to eBay. StumbleUpon's founders and management team will remain in place.
The same paper says that Google is releasing software that will help consumers use web-based applications when they're offline. The firm said the application, called Google Gears, will be open source, allowing software developers to use it to enable consumers to access web applications when not connected to the internet. Google said it would initially make its Reader application accessible offline with Gears. It expects to eventually do the same for its other web-based applications.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 